ASTYANAX (infant son of Hector)

In his early days, the child sat upon his father's knees and ate the choicest food.² He slept in a bed on a soft couch in the arms of his nurse.² A nurse carried him in her bosom to meet his father.⁵ Hector smiled at the boy but did not speak to him.⁵ Andromache frequently showed him his father fighting on the walls.⁹ She predicted his future life would be filled with labor and sorrow, expecting him to be driven from tables by children of living parents.² She foresaw that he would become destitute and beg for food among his father's friends.² Others were expected to seize his lands after his father's death.²

The Danaids are also said to have killed him by throwing him from the city walls.¹⁰ The enemy killed the baby because they hated his father Hector.⁶ His death was required for the Greek ships to depart for home.¹¹ He was told he must die because he was greatly feared despite being a child.¹²

Before his death, Talthybius took the boy away from his mother and ordered him to climb the high ancestral towers to die.⁴ In a different account, Andromache hid him in a tomb out of fear, but he emerged to be presented to Odysseus.⁷ Andromache instructed Astyanax to raise his hands in prayer to Odysseus and to forget his royal birth and his father's rule.⁷ Astyanax begged his mother to pity him and save him from his fate, clinging to her robes for protection.¹² She told him to take her tears, kisses, and hair to his father and to speak her parting words to his spirit.¹²

His head was broken open by the fall.^13,14 His body was carried on Hector's shield.¹⁰ Hecuba struck her head and beat her breast in grief for the boy.⁴ Andromache mourned the death of her son.¹⁴